Students create their own league to find legends

Victoria University of Wellington
will play host to an e-sport tournament over the holidays,
with students both co-ordinating and competing in online
games.

Organised by the Victoria Engineering Club (VEC),
teams of students will play League of Legends which,
with 27 million active players, is currently one of the most
popular video games worldwide.

Through the support of
Riot, the company behind the successful game, the winning
Victoria team will go on to compete against other Oceania
teams at the Oceanic Gaming Winter Arena in May.

After
battling it out for two weeks from 21 April, the final on 2
May will be screened on campus for students to watch. VEC
organiser, Kieran Carnegie says the entertainment of
e-sports isn't just for those playing.

"Commentary of
games is much the same as with sports, and it's something
that's really blossomed within e-sport culture. So we're
going to have students within the club commentating every
game for those wanting to watch, and then some professionals
for showing the final on campus," says Carnegie, a computer
science Master’s student.

Victoria researcher Dr Yuri
Seo from the School of Marketing and International Business
at Victoria Business School says that as computer gaming has
grown worldwide, a spectator element has developed, as is
the case with any other professional sport.

"There are
people who want to watch the game, and it becomes a form of
performance. And because you have increased spectatorship,
you then have companies which want to sponsor events, and
they just grow from there," says Dr Seo.

According to Dr
Seo, a lot of the industry is consumer driven, and the
tournament at Victoria is a good example of how the industry
is working in a variety of ways to engage with
consumers.

"The thing with e-sports is that community is a
really big thing, and plays a very important role. This
means it's common to see companies try and engage with them,
and leads to both large and small scale events."

Dr Seo
says that although the local market is currently quite
small, because it's youth and technology driven, people
living in New Zealand can still be a part of the growing
international e-sport culture.

Victoria's first big
e-sport tournament is open to students of all abilities, and
there are a number of prizes being offer to competitors by
both Riot and the VEC.

"This isn't a tournament where
we're expecting everyone to be amazing. Whether you've only
played a little bit or a lot, get together with a couple of
mates and have a lot of fun," says Kieran.

The VEC, which
has grown to over 300 members this year, is open to all
students interested in engineering, computer science, or
technology in general. Along with e-sports, the club runs a
number of events from LAN-parties to robot building
competitions.

For more information or to register
for the tournament, visit:
www.facebook.com/VictoriaEngineeringClub

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